PROGRAM

• BACH The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: Contrapuncti I-IV
• BERG Lyric Suite (1925-26)
• SCHUBERT String Quartet No. 15 in G Major, Op.161, D.887.

Pre-Concert Talk:  Roger Emanuels (at 7:15PM)

MUSIC

Bach's The Art of Fugue explores in-depth the possibilities of counterpoint. Berg's dramatic, introspective, and intensely emotional Lyric Suite, was secretly dedicated to his lover. Schubert's grand and noble last quartet is his most impressive and his most original in musical language.

ARTISTS

Since its inception in 1946, the Juilliard String Quartet has manifest the founders' credo to “play new works as if they were established masterpieces, and established masterpieces as if they were new.” In July 2013, Roger Tapping replaces Samuel Rhodes, the Juilliard's violist since 1969. This is also the first San Jose area concert for Joseph Lin, who was chosen to be first violinist in 2011.

“Repeatedly you were impressed by the way the ensemble feels its way through a phrase, shaping it as one...” – The New York Times.

juilliardstringquartet.org   •   colbertartists.com

PROGRAM

• RAVEL Piano Trio in A Minor (1914)
• HAYDN Piano Trio No.40 in F-Sharp Minor, Hob. XV:26
• Ernest BLOCH Three Nocturnes (1924)
• MENDELSSOHN Piano Trio in C Minor, Op.66

Pre-Concert Talk:  Roger Emanuels  (at 7:15PM)

MUSIC

Ravel's only piano trio projects a mood of wistful elegy that is accentuated by the frenzied acrobatics of its fast movements. Haydn's late, “London” Trio, dedicated to London pianist friend Rebecca Schroeter, is subtle and shifting in its moods. Bloch composed his neoclassical style and tightly-knit Nocturnes while Director of the Cleveland Institute of Music 1920-24. Mendelssohn's well-proportioned Trio has a very strong sonata-form Allegro movement, and its Andante is an extended glorious song.

ARTISTS

The prize-winning Morgenstern Trio, formed 2007 at Folkwang Conservatory, Essen, astounds audiences with its magnetic virtuosity, sparkling energy, and organic unity.“

“a smashing debut... unanimity, polished technique and musical imagination... a night to remember.” – Washington Post.

morgensterntrio.com   •   marianneschmockerartists.com

PROGRAM

Magnificat's program “Curious and Modern Inventions” features some of the “new music” - sacred and secular, instrumental and vocal - heard in Venice in 1629.

• works by violin virtuoso Biagio MARINI
• Claudio MONTEVERDI's madrigals Armato il cor and Zefiro torna
• Motets by Alessandro GRANDI and Heinrich SCHÜTZ [1585-1672]

Pre-Concert Talk:  Magnificat's Director, Warren Stewart

MUSIC

In 1629 Heinrich Schütz left war-ravaged Dresden to re-visit Venice, and was amazed by how much styles of composition had changed since he had studied with Gabrieli there some 20 years before. Magnificat offers a taste of the “fresh devices” - new, curious and expressive music - Schütz heard in Venice, which remained an inspiration throughout his life.

ARTISTS

For 20 years Magnificat, under the dynamic leadership of Warren Stewart, has explored the emotionally charged music of 17th Century Europe with dramatic flair, historical sensitivity, infectious joy and musical delight.

“sumptuous and elegantly delivered music.”  - S.F. Chronicle

magnificatbaroque.com

PROGRAM

• HAYDN Piano Trio No.43 in C Major, Hob. XV:27
• BRAHMS: Clarinet Trio in A Minor [with cello & piano], Op.114 (1891)
• Sir Arnold BAX (1883-1953) Trio in One Movement for Piano, Violin and Clarinet, Op.4 (1906)
• MENDELSSOHN Pino Trio No.1 in D Minor, Op.49

Pre-Concert Talk:  Janet Sims

MUSIC

Hearing clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld in 1891 inspired Brahms to resume composing, including his famous Clarinet Trio. Bax's youthful, ambitious Trio for viola or clarinet is his earliest extended work. Haydn's London Trios XV:27-29, written during his successful second visit, are experimental and masterful. Mendelssohn's first Piano Trio scored a great and immediate success. Schumann termed it “the master trio of the age”.

ARTISTS

The Gould Piano Trio has a special affinity for playing and recording romantic composers - with many CDs on Naxos.

British clarinetist Robert Plane won Classic CD Magazine's ‘Best Concerto Recording’ Award.

gouldpianotrio.com   •   robertplane.com   •   hunsteinartists.com

CYCLE

In year 2 we present five more of Beethoven’s 16 string quartets. His six ‘first period’ quartets, Op.18, of 1798-1800 already demonstrate his mastery of the Classical style he inherited. The middle period “Heroic” quartets from 1806 and 1809 reveal his revolutionary enlarged conception. In the late quartets of 1824-26 Beethoven, now totally deaf, explored new worlds of sound that both challenged and delighted his critics and audiences.

PROGRAM (Cycle Concert 3 - April 5)

All-BEETHOVEN:

• No.6 in B-Flat Major, Op. 18/6 “la Malinconia” (1799)
• No.12 in E-Flat Major, Op.127 (1823/24)

Pre-Concert Talk:  Dr. Bill Meredith, Director, Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoben Studies, SJSU.

MUSIC

Quartet Op.18/6 is perhaps the most formally experimental of the early quartets: the second movement is an early example of the Beethoven scherzo; the short third movement bears Beethoven's own programmatic title (“Melancholy”); and the melancholy music twice interrupts the finale.

The first of the late-period quartets, Op.127, blends the famous “Heroic” style of the second period with a new, timeless introspection.

 

PROGRAM (Cycle Concert 4 - April 6)

All-BEETHOVEN:

• No.10 in E-Flat Major, Op.74 “Harp” (1809)
• No.2 in G Major, Op.18/2 “Compliments” (1799)
• No.14 in C-Sharp Minor, Op.131 (1826)

Pre-Concert Talk:  Dr. Bill Meredith, Director, Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoben Studies, SJSU.

MUSIC

The “Harp” Quartet earned its nickname for the pizzicato passage of the first movement, but it is an experimental and deeply moving work.

Quartet Op.18/2 recalls the cheerful and happy energy of the Rococo style in all four movements.

The seven-movement C-Sharp Minor, Op.131, is Beethoven’s most experimental quartet. At its heart is the expansive middle movement in A Major - a beautiful set of contemplative variations.

ARTISTS

The Auryn has performed this cycle throughout Europe and the U.S. Their Beethoven recordings won the Classical Internet Award, and Gramaphone said: “For me, this is now the set to beat.”

Their Haydn CDs won a German Music Critics’ Prize and an Echo Klassik Prize.

“European tradition that blends elegance of sound with seamless phrasing and clarity of detail.”
— Cleveland Plain Dealer

ShuppArtists.com  •  AurynQuartet.com  •  sjsu.edu/beethoven